Batanes, the northernmost, is in fact the northernmost part of the whole
republic, consisting of a string of small and weather-beaten islands extending
from Luzon to about two hundred kilometers from Taiwan. Its total land area is
209 sq.km., which makes it the smallest province in the country. It is also the
least populous, at sixteen thousand, in six towns. Basco, the capital, was named
for the first Spanish governor. The aboriginal population, called Ivatan, came
from Taiwan, and the Ivatan language is of the Formosan family. There has
apparently been some admixture of Spanish genetic material, but no mixing with
the many other ethnic groups in the rest of the Philippines. The Ivatan live in
houses built of stone, and shaped so that even typhoon winds can't get a grip on
them. When high winds threaten, the Ivatan throw rope nets over their crops to
protect them. They make their living by fishing and subsistence farming, growing
root crops, vegetables, and fruits, and raising cattle, pigs, and poultry for
sale. They have no radio station, no newspaper, no movie house. There is a
single inn--"spartan but cheap." They say they have the rarest corals in the
world, but advise against swimming in the sea--it's "too frisky." Some islands
are difficult to reach even by boat. Access by air is "weather permitting." All
in all, Batanes puts me in mind of accounts of visits to the Shetlands and
Orkneys in the nineteenth century. One sight for the venturesome is a ghost
town, drowned by a tsunami in the 1950s.
John Ayer, 28 March 2001

The Cagayan Valley Region is defined by the Cagayan River, the largest in the
Philippines. The Province of Cagayan occupies the lower course of the river, and
the northeast corner of the island of Luzon (with a few offshore islets).
Cagayan's area is 9,003 sq.km., its population 952,000 (by the 2000 census) in
twenty-nine towns, of which Tuguegarao is the capital.

Archaeology indicates that the Cagayan Valley has been inhabited for half a
million years, though no human remains of any such antiquity have yet appeared.
The earliest inhabitants are the Agta, or Atta, food-gatherers who roam the
forests without fixed abode. A large tract of land has lately been returned to
them. The bulk of the population are of Malay origin. For centuries before the
coming of the Spanish the inhabitants traded with Indians, Malays, Chinese, and
Japanese. In the nineteenth century the prosperity found in tobacco cultivation
caused many Ilocanos to settle here. Tobacco is still a major factor in the
economy of Cagayan, though a special economic zone and free port has been
created to strengthen and diversify the provincial economy. Cagayan has much to
offer visitors: beaches, swimming, snorkeling, skin-diving, fishing in the river
and the sea, hiking in primeval forest, mountain-climbing, archaeological sites,
the remarkable collection of the provincial museum, the Callao Caves, and many
fine churches. Even here there are fortifications built to protect the
inhabitants from raids by the Moros.
John Ayer, 28 March 2001

1. The flag shall be rectangular in shape, with the proportion of its length to
be twice its width;

2. The Flag shall be composed of three stripes of equal width running
horizontally through the length of the flag.

3. The stripes shall be of the following colors with their corresponding
symbolism:

TOP STRIPE - SKY BLUE - (The azure sky) which stands for justice, honor ,
and nobility of the people, their sincerity and their traditionally peaceful
ways;

MIDDLE STRIPE - GOLD - (Color of the bright sun) which symbolizes the
wealth of the Province;

LOWER STRIPE - GREEN - (the verdant mountains and plains) which depicts
the fertility of the soil; it also inspires hope among the people;

The coat of arms shall be approximately 1 1/4 the width of any of the stripes,
and the proportions of the width to the depth of the coat of arms will be 6:7;

The coat of arms shall be a faithful reproduction of the official coat of arms
as regards proportions, color and designs;

The coat of arms shall be located at the left-hand side of the flag, two spaces
equal to the width of the coat of arms from the right edge, and centrally placed
in the remaining area to the left, touching the blue stripe and the green stripe
while straddling over the gold stripe;

The coat of arms shall nor be bound by an encircling band, but shall be drawn
with bold outlines of black to better define its form against the background.
Neither shall be the words Province of Cagayan: Official Seal". (A flag is
supposed to be an emblem, to portray a symbol; a pennant or a banner does not).

The twenty-nine (29) municipalities, represented by twenty nine (29) stars
(white in color) will be placed around the coat of arms.

*Adopted as the Provincial Flag of Cagayan by the
Municipal Board in its Resolution No. 319, dated March 11, 1970

Proceeding southward (or in alphabetical order, or upriver) through Region II we
come to the Province of Isabela, created in 1856 and named for Isabela II, then
the Queen of Spain. Isabela is the biggest (10,665 sq.km.) and most populous
(1,277,000) province in the Cagayan Valley, and comprises one city (Santiago,
for which I have no flag) and thirty-six towns, of which Ilagan is the capital.
The Cagayan River runs through the central plains, which are separated from the
coast by the Sierra Madre (now often called the Sierra Mountains [apologies to
our Spanish-speaking friends]).

About half the land is forested, and the government looks to expand the existing
trade in furniture, rattan products, and other forest products. The bulk of the
economy is agricultural. Tobacco dominated in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. Imposition of a government tobacco monopoly in 1782 led to rebellion
and the partial depopulation of many towns. Tobacco is still grown, but so too
are rice, bananas, maize, coconuts, and vegetables. The coast is sparsely
inhabited, though surfers come to play, and the government is building an
airport and seaport on the coast to encourage development. The forests and caves
of the wild east are still largely unexplored.
John Ayer, 28 March 2001

The Philippine Republic's Region II, Cagayan Valley, contains two landlocked
provinces, Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya. Both are relatively small in size (3057
sq.km. for Quirino, 4081 sq.km. for Nueva Vizcaya) and population (147,000 and
365,000, respectively, by the 2000 census). Both are ruggedly mountainous and
heavily forested. Nueva Vizcaya is the remnant of the southern province created
when Cagayan Province was divided in two in 1839. Both are ethnically and linguistically
diverse, with a substrate of Agtas, Negritos who are food-gatherers with no
fixed abode, overlaid by Ilonggos and others in a number of tribes, some
of whom were fierce head-hunters until recently (we are firmly assured that they
have given up the practice), with the latest but largest element of the
population being Ilocanos. Nueva Vizcaya comprises fifteen towns; Bayombong is
the capital.
Agriculture in both has until recently consisted of slash-and-burn cultivation
of corn and maize, though more stable cultivation of vegetables and fruits is
becoming established. Both also produce logs, and are trying to manage their
forest resources so that production can be sustained indefinitely. They have
deposits of gold, silver, copper, iron. Nueva Vizcaya has sand and clay. At Balete Pass in
Nueva Vizcaya the retreating Japanese under General Yamashita dug in and held on
for three months against the American and Filipino forces who eventually drove
them out; the pass is now called Dalton Pass in honor of General Dalton, USA,
who was killed in the fighting.
John Ayer, 24 March 2001

Nueva Vizcaya was probably named after Vizcaya
(English 'Biscay', Basque 'Bizkaia') province in northern Spain. In this case
there is some vexillological relationship between them, as the flag of New
Biscay bears the arms of Biscay impaled on its seal.Santiago Dotor, 2 April 2001

The Philippine Republic's Region II, Cagayan Valley, contains two landlocked
provinces, Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya. Both are relatively small in size (3057
sq.km. for Quirino, 4081 sq.km. for Nueva Vizcaya) and population (147,000 and
365,000, respectively, by the 2000 census). Both are ruggedly mountainous and
heavily forested. Quirino was set off as a
subprovince in 1966, named in honor of the late Elpidio Quirino, second
President of the independent Philippine Republic, and raised to the rank of a
province by legislative act of 1971. Both are ethnically and linguistically
diverse, with a substrate of Agtas, Negritos who are food-gatherers with no
fixed abode, overlaid by Ilonggos and others in a number of tribes, some
of whom were fierce head-hunters until recently (we are firmly assured that they
have given up the practice), with the latest but largest element of the
population being Ilocanos. Quirino is divided into six towns; its capital is Cabarroguis.
Agriculture in both has until recently consisted of slash-and-burn cultivation
of corn and maize, though more stable cultivation of vegetables and fruits is
becoming established, and Quirino now lists coffee and peanuts among its
produce. Both also produce logs, and are trying to manage their forest resources
so that production can be sustained indefinitely. They have deposits of gold,
silver, copper, iron, and, in Quirino, marble, limestone, and guano. The marble
is turned into tiles and figurines. Quirino
contains the actual confluence of three mountain streams that is regarded as the
head of the Cagayan River. Its shield shows the mountains from which the rivers
and logs descend, the river descending to the sea, three trees symbolizing
forest and wood products, and rice, maize, and tobacco plants.
John Ayer, 24 March 2001